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London, Jan. 3: Indian nurses are being advised by the Royal College of Nursing not to come to the UK for the time being because of an over-supply of locally trained staff.

The plight of Indian nurses has been highlighted by the harassment some have suffered in Liverpool where they have been subjected to racist abuse by local youths.

The Liverpool Echo’s crime reporter, Ben Rossington, has disclosed exclusively in his paper that “many of the nurses have been recruited by the National Health Service (NHS) from India to fill hospital vacancies and they say the racist abuse is getting worse and are worried things could escalate”.

The nurses, based at the 800-bed Fazakerley hospital in Liverpool, are living in four blocks of flats in nearby Falconhall Road. They say they are terrified of going out at night. Stones have been thrown at windows and the nurses subjected to calls of “Pakis, go home”.

One elderly mother in India, learning of the difficulties of her son — he is married to one of the nurses — has told him to come back home with the words “Money isn’t everything”.

The son, who asked for his name to be withheld, told The Telegraph yesterday: “The Indian High Commissioner’s representative in Birmingham, L. Balaji, came to see us over the Christmas holidays and we had a meeting with four police officers. We have been here eight months but the problem, with youths mostly under 18, has been going on for over a month. The moment they see us, they say ‘You f… Pakis’.

“One of the nurses attended Christmas mass one night. She came out to find a nice Christmas present. Her car windows had been shattered. These youths are anti-Christ.”

He added: “My wife’s colleagues and supervisor are very nice. But there are few nursing jobs now in the NHS — not even enough for local people.”

A spokesperson for the Royal College of Nursing explained that this summer the rules on employing foreigners changed when the government took nurses off the “shortage” list. This meant that nurses were not deemed to be in short supply and, hence, it was no longer necessary to recruit them from overseas to work in the NHS.

In fact, there were not enough jobs even for UK-trained nurses, whose three-year period of training costs taxpayers £50,000.

The spokesperson pointed out that most nurses who came from abroad were recruited into relatively junior ranks known as “band five”. The government had announced there were no shortages in band five, as well as in band six, a higher rank.

Even if nurses had specialist training in their own countries, their skills were often not recognised when they came to Britain. “It’s a complex situation,” she observed.

She advised Indian nurses to check the website of the Nursing Midwifery Council (nmc-uk.org) before making plans to move to Britain.

At present, if there are any vacancies, locally trained British staff will be employed. If jobs there are still not filled, first preference will be given to nurses from within the European Union — which does not leave much scope for Indians who will now be passed over even for Poles, Rumanians and Bulgarians.

The change in official policy was announced earlier this year by health minister Lord Warner who said the government had invested heavily in nurse training and recruitment policies.

He said: “Large-scale international nurse recruitment across the NHS was only ever intended to be a short-term measure. The aim of the NHS has always been to look towards home-grown staff in the first instance and have a diverse workforce that reflects local communities.”

The Royal College of Nursing attacked the move, warning it would be impossible to replace retiring nurses with home-grown talent alone.

Dr Beverly Malone, the college’s general secretary who is stepping down this year, said: “International nurses have always been there for the UK in times of need, and it beggars belief that they are now being made scapegoats for the current deficits crisis. Removing nursing from the list of recognised shortage professions is short-termism in the worst possible sense.”

She warned: “We know that the vast majority of international nurses are employed in bands five and six, the very bands which are going to be affected.

“If this proposal goes ahead, I guarantee that the effects will be far-reaching and immediate. Over 150,000 nurses are due to retire in the next five to 10 years and we will not replace them all with home-grown nurses alone.”